4 months and 3 years!

Last week Jake and Mia both got to visit to doctors office for their well checkups. (3 year for Jake and 4 month for Mia!) I just wanted to write a "stats" update about them.

Mia is growing like crazy! She weighs 11 pounds, 8 ounces, which means that in 4 months she has almost doubled her birthweight :) It puts her in the 9th percentile, which is right on track for her. In height, she is 23.5 inches long, and has jumped up to the 20th percentile! She can roll over from tummy to back, and is super close to rolling from back to tummy. When we lay her down to change clothes, diapers, or give her a bath (pretty much any time she is naked), Mia will become so happy, and will twist her little torso from side to side. I think thats why she still hasn't figured out rolling over...as soon as she gets her body twisted far enough to flip, she whips it back the other way. I need to take a video of her doing it sometime, because it's pretty funny. When we were at the doctors office, they stripped her down to take her weight on the infant scale. the second that diaper came off, she started cracking up and rolling from side to side. The nurses thought it was hilarious, and we watched her bounce around for a good 30 seconds..(the scale won't register weight until the baby holds still, and it took her awhile to do that).

Her eczema is still pretty bad. When the Doc was examining her, he said that the severity of her rash was probably very uncomfortable and itchy for her. I've been doing everything I can to keep her comfortable since day one, but it broke my heart to hear that apparently it wasn't enough. especially since Mia is still, through it all, such a happy and content baby. I don't know what I did to deserve her. It's truly such a blessing. Fortunately, the doctor has now put her on a prescription ointment which seems to really be helping her so far.

Mia has definitely started teething. Jake started around 4 months too, and by 5 months old he had 2 teeth. So far, she is drooling, and biting everything (including me while nursing the last couple days.. ouch.) As long as I have tylenol and teething tablets on standby, she hasn't gotten too grumpy so far. We will see if it lasts. I'm hoping the high tolerance she seems to have for her eczema will carry over into her teething experience (fingers crossed).

On Friday I started Mia on rice cereal. Jake was very excited to help out! We mixed the cereal together, and said a little prayer that Mia would have a good experience learning to eat real foods. (Let's be honest, I've been hoping and praying for awhile now that Mia would be a good eater...Jake is picky enough for the whole family.) For a first time eater that has no idea how to swallow spoon fed cereal, I'd have to say she did pretty good! No tears, she kept her mouth open, and seemed to enjoy tasting it. Hopefully as she gets more comfortable, she'll be excited to eat new things!

Jake hit a major milestone--he is now in the 30th percentile for weight, and I've been given the "go for it" to switch him from whole milk to 2%. I've been working so hard to get him to eat more food each day, and it seems to be paying off!

I was planning to potty train Jake once he turned 3, but after talking to the doctor about it at length, he recommended that I hold off for a bit, until jake seems more willing and excited to take that step. So unless Jake wakes up and tells me he is ready to quit using diapers, it looks like I will be waiting until after we move away to start that adventure.

Jake NEVER STOPS TALKING. I don't think I can even pin down exactly when it changed, but I'm finding myself in constant dialogue with him. Whether he is telling me a story (and I have to always repeat what he is saying or he won't believe that I am listening), or arguing with me, or trying to negotiate his way out of something (uh oh...it's okay mommy we can clean that up later... or...how about I take my nap a little bit later). And now we've started roll playing...Over the weekend we watched the new Narnia movie, and in the middle of it Jake wanted to choose characters for all of us to "be" : Okay mommy, you be the lion, I'll be the dragon, daddy can be the mouse.

His logic is amazing. Wesley went away on a trip one weekend, and I explained to Jake that daddy got to go fly on an airplane.

Jake: "I wanna go on the airplane too!!:

Me: "You can't Jake because it's already up in the sky."

Jake: "Oh, yeah it's probably too high...I can't reach it"

Me: "yeah probably not"

Jake: "................hmm....I need a ladder...a yellow one please."

Tomorrow is Jake's 3rd birthday, so I will be doing another "birthday post" soon, but we celebrated this weekend with Wesley's family. Ever since we went to Disneyland, Jake has wanted a "blue mickey cake" for his birthday. I don't know where the "blue" came from, but he has remained constant in that desire, so I attempted to make him one. I did a white cake, 2 layers high, with buttercream frosting and strawberries in the middle. I'm not a very good baker, but Jake still loved it!

can you see Jake's little thumb print on the first picture?? He was very eager to try his cake, and stuck his fingers right in the second our backs were turned :)

One more great Jake story to wrap up this post..

Yesterday was Easter. I sat in on Nursery because we were visiting the grandparents, and Jake didn't want to go to a strange class by himself. The teacher was telling the kids all about Jesus and the resurrection. She explained that we celebrate Easter because even though Jesus died, after 3 days He rose and was alive again. She emphasized that phrase several times, talking about how Jesus was alive again. Jake seemed to really be listening, and I was excited that he seemed to follow the concept....

Until I heard him whisper to himself.."Jesus is a Lion again???"

He was marveling at the idea that Jesus was a lion. I think I need to do some Christ centered family home evenings, because clearly my son missed some important parts of the story. ;)

My kids get grumpy, throw tantrums, have blowouts, and often cause me to lose sleep and maintain a very questionable diet (Jake's pop-tart and chicken nugget leftovers). But I love them so much! I feel like I can never give them enough kisses, or long enough hugs. Jake is so funny and smart and cute, and Mia is such a happy, chunky little ball of positive energy. I LOVE them soooo much!